Members AtomHeartMother Posted April 30, 2005 Members Share Posted April 30, 2005 I picked up one of these to try out. I've had my eye on one of those Callahams, but crunched the numbers every which way and couldn't come up with the $110.00 that it'd cost. So being the cheapskate that I am, I went in search of a cheaper alternative. I ended up coming across one of these on Ebay. I was hesitant at first as the price was ridiculously low, but I've heard so many good things about Guitar Fetish that I gave it the go. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=7312323353&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT Features: +Steel block (magnets do indeed stick to it) +Push-in trem arm +Saddles with elongated string slots +Staggered trem string holes (The latter two help prevent the strings from binding into the back of the saddles, which causes the biggest factor in string breakage and a decrease in sustain.) Initial impressions: It arrived yesterday afternoon after being ordered Monday or Tuesday (not bad shipping time at all). When I got the box, I was really surprised at how small the box was. I guess I envisioned the whole thing to be bigger. But alas, it is indeed the same size as the stock trem. After noticing that the sizes were the same, I noticed that...damn...this thing smells bad. I don't know what it is, but damn. Maybe it's the smell of the steel or something. I REALLY hope it goes away. I also dislike how the trem block is black. I've seen other steel blocks that were silver in color, which leads me to believe that it was painted. Could it be magnetic paint over a non-steel block? I don't know. It sort of throws off the vintate motif of my guitar. Installation: I popped it in yesterday evening, which was as easy as changing strings. I just left the original claw in as I'd have to desolder the ground and I don't have an iron where I am as of right now. But they're basically the same thing (the Wilkinson claw is slight smaller and uses ugly black screws). I will warn you now that the string spacing for the trem is the vintage 2 7/32 inch spacing. That means MIM Fender Standards won't work; they have 2 1/16 inch spacing. The Classic Series will work however. You can either measure the distance from the centers of the two outside pivot screws or if you have a major brand guitar (i.e. Fender), you can check at the Callaham website under the trem block section. After restringing, stretching the strings, and fiddling with the string-spring tension via the claw, I got down to adjusting the string height and intonation. I'll mention here that I put in 5 strings rather than the 3 there were in the before. I'm not sure what affect this will have. Surprisingly, the saddles were set very close to what I eventually had. After getting everything set up, it was time to test this bad boy out. Impressions: As far as playability (e.g. string tension, etc) it seemed the same. The string tension might be negligably looser due to the strings not being bound against the back of the saddles due to the elongated saddle string slots and the staggered string holes in the block. The guitar seems to be slightly more resonant and there seems to be a little bit more sustain. The overall tone seems to be slightly thicker and deeper. The notes seem bit more round and soft, especially acoustically. I do like the push in trem arm. It isn't vintage, per say, but it is more convenient. However, I also dislike it as well for taking away from the vintage motif; you can also see the black rubber that holds in place, which bothers me a bit. Also, the trem arm is shorter than Fender ones. The bottom line: These are just inital impressions as I've only had a day. I'll continue to play and see if anything else catches my ear. I'll also change back to the old block at the next restringing to see if I notice any differences. If not, I'll just buy a set of these saddles or the Callaham ones for the elongated slots and then put those on the stock bridge and go from there. I just have mixed feelings about the bridge. There seem to be tonal differences, but they seem negligable at best. I really do like the saddles though and think that they're almost worth the price alone (I'd pay maybe $25 for the saddles). However, the cons almost outweight the pros. I'll just give it more test time and give it another comparison to the stock bridge. PROS: Steel block (lends to a slightly more resonant and deep sound) Saddles have elongated string slots (less string breakage) Bridge is nice and shiney (pretty!) Parts appear to be of very high quality Push in trem arm is nice Jay provides good, fast service at Guitar Fetish CONS: Trem block is black (vintate look = bye, bye) Trem assembly smells bad (I don't get it...) Wilkinson is stamped all over the bridge 13 or 14 times Push in trem arm isn't vintage; you can see the black rubber The tonal benefits seem to be negligable at best As you can see the cons are mostly cosmetic. Sure, maybe I'm vain, but I'm sure there are others out there that might be bothered by similar things. But if you don't care about the vanity of your guitar or whether or not it looks totally vintage, this would be a good improvement for a ridiculously low price. Like I said, the saddles alone are almost worth the price of admission. In the end, there's a pretty decent chance that I may just end up selling this one and putting the stock one back in along with some saddles from Callaham (or maybe some of these Wilkinson ones). It's for cosemtic reasons though. RATING: 6.5/10 (Rating for Guitar Fetish...9/10) Notice the elongated string slots on the saddles. Also notice how the word Wilkinson is stamped 13 times on the bridge. Notice the visible black rubber in the trem arm hole. You can see the black trem block on the top of the guitar as well. The trem block may be ugly, but I do like the staggered string holes. Also, the depth of all of the strings holes are the same and are really deep. The ball ends are may 1 cm from the saddles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nathan Kwok Posted April 30, 2005 Members Share Posted April 30, 2005 I'm sure you could just sand off the black paint on the block and then spray it with some clearcoat (or silver paint) to protect it from oxidation. I wouldn't worry about the paint being magnetic I highly doubt that. Just make sure not to spray the part of the block that contacts the bridge, this should be smooth and free of paint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vintage clubber Posted April 30, 2005 Members Share Posted April 30, 2005 If you put a trem cover on the back who's going to see the black trem block anyway?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AtomHeartMother Posted April 30, 2005 Author Members Share Posted April 30, 2005 Originally posted by vintage clubber If you put a trem cover on the back who's going to see the black trem block anyway?? It's just the thought. Also, you can see it poke throw under the bridge on the top of the guitar. I just really don't notice a huge enough difference in tone for to make it worth the loss of the vintage look for me. Next time I change strings I'll put the stock one back in. Then I should know for sure if they're is a difference. Either way, I'll probably just sell it. So if anyone is interested in one of these, I'll probably be selling it for probably $30 shipped ($18 off the new price) in the middle of May when I have time to deal with this. There are differences in tone and I definately think it's worth the $48 it costs new, but I just can't get over the color issues (the block and the trem bar cavity). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mazi Bee Posted April 30, 2005 Members Share Posted April 30, 2005 It's not a vintage guitar, so why are you so worried about it appearing "vintage"? Seriously, no one can see the trem block except for you. It's seems like a pretty minor thing to be nitpicking about. Seriously, you can't even see the trem block dude. Pick which one sounds the best and stick with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AtomHeartMother Posted April 30, 2005 Author Members Share Posted April 30, 2005 Originally posted by Mazi Bee It's not a vintage guitar, so why are you so worried about it appearing "vintage"?Seriously, no one can see the trem block except for you. It's seems like a pretty minor thing to be nitpicking about. Seriously, you can't even see the trem block dude.Pick which one sounds the best and stick with it. I like the vintage look. Honestly, I just don't like how black looks with that guitar. Like I said, you can see the block underneath the bridge (see the third picture). The trem bar hole also has black rubber. I think I'm just going to swap the old one back in and buy some of the Callaham saddles and a Callaham block (someday down the road). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mazi Bee Posted April 30, 2005 Members Share Posted April 30, 2005 Originally posted by AtomHeartMother I like the vintage look. Honestly, I just don't like how black looks with that guitar. Like I said, you can see the block underneath the bridge (see the third picture). The trem bar hole also has black rubber. I think I'm just going to swap the old one back in and buy some of the Callaham saddles and a Callaham block (someday down the road). You might want to think about replacing those brass colored springs with silver ones also then.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AtomHeartMother Posted April 30, 2005 Author Members Share Posted April 30, 2005 Originally posted by Mazi Bee You might want to think about replacing those brass colored springs with silver ones also then.... I actually kind of like the brass colored springs; it matches the finish pretty well. I'm not looking for pure authentic vintage...just the vintage look. I don't think the black matches the guitar well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vintage clubber Posted May 1, 2005 Members Share Posted May 1, 2005 so how much was it after shipping?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AtomHeartMother Posted May 1, 2005 Author Members Share Posted May 1, 2005 Originally posted by vintage clubber so how much was it after shipping?? $48.00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vintage clubber Posted May 1, 2005 Members Share Posted May 1, 2005 Originally posted by AtomHeartMother $48.00 that's with shipping?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AtomHeartMother Posted May 1, 2005 Author Members Share Posted May 1, 2005 Originally posted by vintage clubber that's with shipping?? He charges $8 shipping, but you can add as many items as you want and have them shipped for free. Overall, I think it's a pretty unbelievably low price considering that Fender charges $20 for their inferior saddles alone. I wanted to do te Callaham thing, but this whole assembly costed $15 less than just the Callaham trem block. I just had to try it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vintage clubber Posted May 1, 2005 Members Share Posted May 1, 2005 Originally posted by AtomHeartMother He charges $8 shipping, but you can add as many items as you want and have them shipped for free.Overall, I think it's a pretty unbelievably low price considering that Fender charges $20 for their inferior saddles alone. I wanted to do te Callaham thing, but this whole assembly costed $15 less than just the Callaham trem block. I just had to try it. ok. so was it $40.00 + $8.00 shipping or $48.00 + $8.00 shipping? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members buddastrat Posted May 1, 2005 Members Share Posted May 1, 2005 You could always get a Fender trem for about $50 or so used. I believe it has a bigger block and the holes aren't drilled nearly as deep which means more mass if that's something you're interested in. the new Fender Eric Johnson strat has a block that has very shallow holes drilled into the block as per Eric's request. Even more shallow than Callaham and Fender's vintage trem. I had a Wilky vintage trem on my Hamer strat and stuck a Fender vintage one on. It made the tone much louder, and more responsive acoustically. Noticed an immediate difference. But my Wilky had the same block as above but different saddles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AtomHeartMother Posted May 1, 2005 Author Members Share Posted May 1, 2005 Originally posted by vintage clubber ok. so was it $40.00 + $8.00 shipping or $48.00 + $8.00 shipping? $40.00 + $8.00 (shipping)...so $48 total I did link to the auction in the original post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ECFan Posted May 2, 2005 Members Share Posted May 2, 2005 An excellent alternative to the Wilkinson is this one. also for sale by GuitarFetish. I've used these on three projects so far and have liked the quality, all steel construction. They are definitely an upgrade to the standard MIM trems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AtomHeartMother Posted May 2, 2005 Author Members Share Posted May 2, 2005 Originally posted by ECFan An excellent alternative to the Wilkinson is this one. also for sale by GuitarFetish. I've used these on three projects so far and have liked the quality, all steel construction. They are definitely an upgrade to the standard MIM trems. That actually looks like a downgrade from the stock trem in my guitar. It's made of cast metal (not steel) and has crappier looking saddles than even Fender ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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